Her chamber seemed to be a room unfrequented by men. That Abby and Colin had never turned to each other for solace in their long exile surprised him. Polydegmon perched at the edge of her opulent lilac bed, itching with unease, feeling himself overlarge and awkward in this place--like an intruder.
"Colin can't go back?" Her voice was low, emotionless--perhaps to hide how much emotion lay behind it.
Polydegmon sunk his head into his hands and shook it once. "It would be certain death for the Hound."
"And you? You can't do anything?"
Self-loathing and culpability coursed over his head like an icy bath of broken glass. "The Wild Hunt is a powerful supernatural force." He sighed and clenched his hands in frustration. "Alone I can do naught."
"I'm decent." He turned to see she had dressed herself in dark jeans and a black sweater. "And if you two are unmanned, it's my turn to try my luck with the Stag." She started past him.
Anger, shame, irritation--all boiled up at once. Heart-sore and weary, almost he wished he could let the stupid woman go to her doom. Instead, he grabbed her arms in a tight hold. "This is foolishness."
"That's my daughter out there. Don't tell me to stay home and wait when there's nothing you can do to get her back." Abby scratched at his hands as Freddy had, thrashing like an animal to shake him off, wild and frenzied, adding more stinging cuts to the ones her daughter had gifted him with.
"Think." He shook her, too raw inside to be gentle. "Think hard. Cernunnos did not balk at the thought of ordering the death of his loyal friend. What ends do you think he might put you to in order to gain Freddy's obedience? Torture? Gang-rape? How long do you think your daughter would let you suffer before she gave herself up to him utterly? It would only be worse. Besides, the deed is done." He sagged and stepped back, the fight draining from him, softening his muscles, leaving his bones aching with fatigue. "Your daughter gave her word, and so she is bound. There is nothing to do, and to return to the canyon would be to endanger yourself."
"So, that's it? I should give up and forget about my daughter? Let Cernunnos use her however he wants?"
He fought to keep the snap of annoyance out of his voice. If she was shrill and unmanageable, she had reason to be. "No, but there is nothing you can do but strive not to drive yourself mad with worry. My influence in the supernatural world is great, my father's even more so. The moment of my return home, I will do all in my power to return your daughter to you. Believe I will help her. And hope for the best. In the meantime, Colin will need you. He blames himself."
She chewed her lower lip and looked so much like Freddy he had to turn away. "I should check on him."
"We will go together."
Abby wilted. She swiped fiercely at her eyes before going back to Colin's room. After knocking twice, she poked her head around the half-closed door. "Colin?"
He had not moved, still sitting in the damp boxers and the towel on his bed, staring straight in front of him. Abby looked at him for a long moment, her brows drawing together, her eyes misting. She turned around and pushed Polydegmon back. "You stay here." She went into Colin's room alone and shut the door.
Impatient and anxious, Polydegmon glared at the closed door, then, with a frustrated sigh, meandered back to the living room. His brain seemed drowned by thoughts too jumbled and numerous to decipher. He collapsed onto the Fitzgeralds' over-stuffed sofa and tipped his head back to gaze at the ceiling, striving for oblivion as the time passed him by.
He sat there a long while until the click of the door jolted him out of his fog. He jerked around to face Abby as she led her charge into the living room.
The change in the Hound was obvious, even to someone who knew him as slightly as Polydegmon did. The sight was akin to the broken pieces of a vase fitting back together again into wholeness and beauty.
Polydegmon did not know how, but the woman had made the Hound himself again, strong and sure, a pillar fit to weather any storm. He'd combed his pale hair, and dressed in a pair of sweats and a gray T-shirt. His eyes remained haunted, but looked empty no longer. At that moment, they were trained with keen distrust on Polydegmon.
Abby's arm curled around Colin's waist as she spoke to him, "I told you Lord Polydegmon will help." She raised a challenging eyebrow at Polydegmon. "Won't you?"
He met the Hound's eyes and tried to put as much conviction in his voice as he could. "I will."
Abby nodded against Colin's shoulder. "His father is a god. They'll help us. They'll get Freddy back. We have to…to stay strong. For each other. For Freddy. For our daughter."
Colin's arm tightened around Abby's waist. "Right. We'll need all our wits and strength about us if we're going to get her back."
"Hold to that thought." Polydegmon shook Colin's hand. "Good night. I am too late returning to my father as it is, but I will come again when I have news of Frederica." He wished to say more but swallowed his empty promises instead and left.
He hoped he would be able to come back, that Cernunnos was not even now killing Frederica.
~~~
Freddy woke up drained and sick, her eyes swollen in their sockets. Her arms ached, and she had a tender spot on her neck. Panic hammered hard in her ribcage. What happened?
The impossible events of the evening before flooded into her, filling her body, her heart until it seemed she might burst from the inside out with the rage of emotions. Anger, fear, pure misery…she sagged back onto her bed under the deluge. Pinching her eyes shut, she hoped when she opened them again the strange room would be replaced by her modest but much loved room back home.
She snapped her eyes open. No such luck. Her throat closed with grief.
Last night, after he'd taken her away from her dad, Cernunnos had given her some wine to "soothe her nerves." Freddy had drained the cup. If she had to spend the rest of her life in company with Cernunnos, she'd just as soon not be sober.
She had no memory now of what had happened to her after drinking that wine. Everything had blanked out, replaced with a dark oblivion.
He drugged me.
She did a panicked inventory of her body. Thankfully, aside from a nagging headache and assorted pains, she seemed fine. As far as she could tell, no one had touched her except to take her shoes off. She still wore her beat-up sweatshirt and torn jeans.
The room had no door. Two long, narrow windows let in gray slits of light. The windows had no glass, but when she crossed to one and tried to climb out, they were too narrow for her to get more than an arm through. Leaning away from the sill, she peered out the window at rank upon rank of the lushest green trees she had ever seen. A small stream gurgled outside her window, clear and sweet and soothing.
She was in the middle of a forest.
Her rounded room had a low ceiling with sparse furniture, a simple apartment overall. The bed sheets were silk, and elaborate tapestries woven with vivid scenes hung in a ring around her walls. Freddy assumed the wall-hangings depicted the mythic heritage of Cernunnos' people--swans in flight over rocky lakes, a handsome king gazing soulfully as a butterfly fluttered about his face, grotesque renderings of battles between humans and one-legged monsters while carrion crows picked the carcasses clean.
Cernunnos featured in several of them. One in particular made Freddy cringe. The weaving depicted his Hunt riding their horses over a line of broken, bloodied men. Cernunnos led the charge in his chariot, stag-horns like an overlarge crown atop his head. Freddy looked away, sick of the sight of him.
This room was nothing like the piecemeal assemblage of photos and knickknacks, cotton sheets and old pillows from her bedroom at home. She scrunched her bare feet on the woven wool rugs covering the dirt floor, the gray light from the windows too chill to warm her face even a little.
Morning. May 30th. Happy birthday to me.
Her chest ached with pain, her heart actually hurting with the enormity of all she'd lost. My friends. My home. Mom. Dad. Deg…everything.
She dropped onto the foot of her bed and
sunk her head into her hands, hollowed out, aching with despair.
"Is the room to your liking?"
Freddy jumped at the voice.
A young woman stood where one of the grislier tapestries had cloaked a hidden door to the bedchamber. The girl let the hanging flap back into place as she stepped through. "I am sorry if I startled you, but I wanted to see how you were doing."
She wore a heavy woolen dress in a warm peach with silver embroidery down the bodice and encircling the cuffs of her sleeves. Dark black hair twisted away from her face in two braids over a slim circlet of gold. She was the first creature--that didn't have claws or antlers or a tail--to appear since Freddy'd been dragged away from her dad the night before. That alone might have been enough to endear the strange girl, but with a leap of her heart, Freddy noticed the girl's eyes were the same honey gold as Deg's. Pieces shuffled into place. "You're his sister, aren't you?"
The girl sat next to Freddy at the foot of the bed, arranging an embroidered shawl in folds around her shoulders. "I have three brothers, which one do you mean?"
"Polydegmon." Saying his name made Freddy's heart twinge.
"Ah." The girl's face looked no older than Freddy's, maybe younger even, and yet the girl herself seemed older somehow, world-weary. She sighed and met Freddy's eyes. "I am Kore."
"Freddy."
"Freddy." Kore nodded. She was the prettiest woman Freddy had ever seen--after Mom. No one could ever trump Mom. Freddy sighed at the thought of her mom then glanced back at the other girl. "Kore," she scooted closer and lowered her voice, "your brother said he was looking for you. What are you doing here? Were you kidnapped, too?"
Kore twirled the ends of her shawl around her fingertips. "Is that what happened to you?"
"Yes. No. Sort of." Words bubbled inside of her, ready to gush out. For the past few days, a lot of insane stuff had happened, and she hadn't talked about it. Now, here was Kore, in the thick of it, too. Freddy found herself bursting to talk about last night's occurrences with someone. Anyone.
So, she opened her mouth, and she talked. And talked. Talking about everything, telling someone warmed her deep with a dull sort of relief. Not just the night before, but the events of the whole week tumbled out, though with a few details omitted. Kore listened, and now and again interjected with a question. When Freddy finished her narrative, Kore fell quiet again for a while. She shook her head. "Goodness."
"Kore, can you tell me anything about all of this? Nothing makes sense. What is up with that antler-guy? And those dogs? And the giant fox-man thing? And your brother? And you? What is going on?"
Kore chewed at her lower lip. She avoided Freddy's eyes. "I did not count on having to tell you. I am not good at this sort of thing."
Not again. Freddy reined in her irritation as best she could and kept her voice matter-of-fact. "Look, I don't care if you're good at it. I just want somebody somewhere to tell me the truth."
Kore sat back. Her golden eyes met Freddy's. "All right. I do not know everything. I do know Cernunnos does not mean to hurt you or me. He is not evil."
Something jolted in Freddy's body. Anger. Disgust. She wasn't sure. She jerked away from Kore. "He threatened to have my dad torn to pieces by his dogs right in front of me. What would you call that?"
"Resourceful," bellowed a voice at the room's entrance.
Freddy flinched from the large figure in her doorway--Cernunnos, the evil bastard himself. "What do you want?"
He swung into the room and glanced from one girl to the other. His eyes were bright, his face broken in a grin. "I came to check on my guest."
"We're fine. Thanks," Freddy snapped, annoyed by his nice-guy act. "Guess you can leave." Her fear of the night before had evaporated, but with the loosening of her terror came the hardening of her own anger. What did he want?
Kore turned her face away, and studied the floor when Cernunnos came close. A small, tentative smile played about Kore's lips, and a flush crept by stealthy degrees into her cheeks.
Freddy had seen that look on her own face enough for the last few days--every time a mirror was handy and she happened to be thinking about Deg. How could Kore be crushing on the beast that had kidnapped her? Ugh. The plot thickens.
"Look, pal." Freddy crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not your guest. If I was, I could leave anytime I want, right? I'm your prisoner. So cut this nice guy bullshit. No one is buying it here."
Cernunnos raked her face with his eyes in satisfaction and ignored her words. He offered his hand to Kore. She kept her eyes lowered, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "My lady, would you leave us, please?" This was the softest tone Freddy had yet heard him use.
Kore nodded, cast Freddy a hopeful smile, and left.
Freddy squirmed to find herself under Cernunnos' admiring view again. He ran his eyes over her. His scrutiny was uncomfortable, despite the obvious pleasure he took in looking at her. Finally, he burst out with, "You are quite a beauty. Abby passed a fair amount of herself on to you."
The name rained down like a blow. How does this freak know my mom's name? Freddy clutched one of the silken pillows close to her belly. "Who are you?"
"They never told you?" His too-sharp teeth gleamed. "Hmm, makes it a bit more difficult, but not impossible." He rubbed his lips. Freddy's fingers sunk deeper into the pillow, her nails clawing and catching in the soft material. He watched her with an appraising eye. "The fact of the matter is I need you."
"For what?" She cocked an eyebrow, trying not to let one twitch of her muscles betray her unease.
"A marriage with the Greeks."
"Marriage?" she squeaked. Then, the last part of the sentence sunk in. "The Greeks? Which Greek?" Does he mean Deg? Her lungs malfunctioned, unable to let out the breath she was holding, and her chest spasmed painfully, trying to force her unwilling lungs to work.
Cernunnos dismissed this with a wave. "Hades' boy. What's-his-name. Now, dinner will be soon, and you must look your best to catch your husband. I'll leave you to your maids." He waved a cheery farewell and walked toward the door.
He's seriously going to make me marry someone. In her worst imaginings of what he would to do to her, marriage hadn't even made the list.
Cernunnos was striding toward the door, and Freddy recovered herself enough to call out, "Wait." He turned back, one eyebrow cocked. She swallowed, unnerved by his steady regard, but managed to choke out, "Tell me who you are."
Cernunnos turned in the doorway, an infuriating smirk on his face that she longed to smash to bits. "Pretty child, I am Cernunnos, god of the Celtic underworld, of wealth, of sailors. Lord of the Hunt. Lord of the Animals. I am Master of this Otherworld, and, perhaps most importantly…" He paused--for dramatic effect, she was sure--and beamed at her. "…I am your father."
He left.
Chapter Eleven
For a long time after he left, Freddy did not move. She sat very still staring at, but not seeing, the ornate rug.
My hair. His eyes. That nose. She never had thought she looked like Colin. They were both tall, but…looking at Cernunnos is like seeing a "man-version" of myself. With antlers…
With no little amount of horror, she came to the conclusion it could be true.
Ohgodohgodohgod oh god ohgodohgodohgod …
Her breath came fast and hard, too hard, edging toward panic, but she couldn't stop herself, couldn't catch her breath at all for long, frenzied moments as her chest throbbed and her throat constricted.
Then, when she finally drew in a long, painful breath, her brain turned to mush, her thoughts unformed, or swirling by her too fast for her to catch them, like Dorothy's house spinning down the whirlpool of the tornado's cone.
She sunk her head into the pillows and tried to slow the creaky hamster wheel of her mind.
Once she calmed down enough to rasp in a few halting breaths in a row, one thought stood out from all the rest. Why didn't anyone ever tell me?
The quiet entrance of two maids made Freddy jump. "What
is it?"
"Time to dress for dinner, lady."
More time had passed than she'd realized after Cernunnos' revelation. "Right. Dinner." Freddy's heart stuttered in fear. "Dinner?" Oh, no. Cernunnos would be there.
The handmaidens washed her, coiffed her, tugged a dress over her head and smoothed it into place. They led her around while her mind drifted, and she stared at the floor, trying to figure out how Cernunnos' story could be true. By the time her two maids all but shoved her out the flap of her hut, Freddy still hadn't come up with an answer.
Cernunnos, the Smug SOB, waited for her.
Just looking at him hurt worse than a hit in the gut. This freak is my dad?
Nope. That was still Colin.
My father?
Rather warm term for someone she hated.
Sperm donor?
A bit clinical but…yeah, that's about right.
The stag-god frowned at her as she stared at him. He offered her his arm. She thought about punching him but decided going along with him peacefully would be the more mature course.
She could always break something over his head during dinner.
He led her down several short alleys, past other finely dressed lords and ladies, and more fairies and rough-looking huntsmen. She was in a large village made of squat, rounded huts built of wood and stone with slanted thatched roofs. A crowd trailed her and Cernunnos in a procession, but no one came too near. She floated on Cernunnos' arm ahead of the crowd in her own little world with the stag-god. He led her to a great clearing with benches ringed round several bonfires in the middle. People were already seated, but no food had been served.
The smell of the fire made her light-headed, starting a prickling in the back of her throat. Her maids had put her in an eye-searing, bright red gown. Oh, great. She grimaced. Probably looks a treat with my hair. Lush brown fur trimmed the front of the dress, and, even though real fur always gave her the creeps, the dress kept her warm enough in the chill evening air.
Cernunnos led her past the throng of his huntsmen, several dozen large and stinking beasts shaped like men. They all but salivated as she passed. She didn't know if they wanted to eat her, or what, but whatever they wanted made her back itch with uneasiness as she walked past. She moved closer to Cernunnos, instinctively seeking his protective bulk. Her eyes flicked to his antlers. She patted her own head to feel for sprouting appendages. Nothing. Yet. Despair waved at her from the bottom of her belly. Freddy waved back. How am I going to deal with this?
Heir to the Underworld Page 12
